The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Belarus allows for the government not to communicate the place of burial of those executed.41 As stated in the ODIHR death penalty background papers for 2016 and 2017, the lack of transparency and secrecy surrounding executions in Belarus may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or even torture.42 In his report to the Human Rights Council in April 2017, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus highlighted that “the fact that no details on executions or places of burial are given to the families also amount to torture.”43 Name Age at the time of execution Entry into force of Reported date of the death sentence execution Siarhei Vostrykau 34 4 October 2016 April 2017 Kiryl Kazachok 40 10 January 2017 October 2017 Other information received: The parliamentary working group on the death penalty (Working Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on the Study of Death Penalty as a Measure of Punishment Applied in the Republic of Belarus) , re-established in December 2012, regularly holds meetings, and its representatives participate in events dedicated to the issue of the death penalty in Belarus. 1.2. United States The United States did not reply to the 2018 ODIHR questionnaire. Therefore, the section on the situation of the death penalty in the United States is based on information from available resources made available by national authorities and international and regional human rights bodies, as well as information reported by non-governmental organizations and the media. Death sentences between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 41  Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 175, <http://pravo.by/document/?guid=3871&p0= hk9900275>. 42  See: “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2017”, OSCE/ODIHR, op. cit., note 6; and “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2016”, OSCE/ODIHR, 21 September 2016, p. 26, <https:// www.osce.org/odihr/266186>, (hereafter, “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2016”, OSCE/ ODIHR). 43  “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus”, UN Human Rights Council, 21 April 2017, para. 103, UN Doc. A/HRC/35/40 with reference to Human Rights Committee, Communication No. 886/1999 Schedko v. Belarus, 3 April 2003.. 14